Channing continues until he’s positioned right in front of me—a bold fucking move considering I can reach right through the bar and grab him. Though for now, I’ll play his little game and figure out what the fuck he wants with me until I decide I’ve had enough. I might be locked behind bars, but that doesn’t change the fact this motherfucker is playing by my rules.
I fix him with a hard, unnerved stare and watch as he stares right back, refusing to verbally acknowledge his existence until he finally cracks and gives in. “You put your hands on the wrong man, boy.”
“You freed my sister’s rapist without even a hint of regret. Looks to me like I put my hands exactly where they were meant to go.”
“Miss Morgan had it wrong,” Channing mutters, his gaze darkening with pure hatred. “She falsely accused my client, and I had a responsibility to him to ensure he didn’t go down for your sister’s inability to identify the man who attacked her. Colby Jacobs is innocent. As stated in court, the DNA from Addison’s rape kit was not a match for my client.”
My arm shoots through the bars gripping the front of his designer suit and yanking him to me, his face slamming against the metal bars. “You’re going to fucking pay for what you did to her,” I growl, watching his eyes widen with fear. “I swear to God, I’m going to destroy Colby and then I’m coming for you. Understand me, Channing. Nothing will stop me, not now.”
The officer races in, panic torn across his face as Channing just stares back at me, the fear quickly fading and morphing into something much more sinister. “Release him now,” the officer spits, gripping my hand and tearing my fingers back one by one until I have no choice but to either let go or lose a finger.
Channing stumbles back a step and makes a show of straightening his suit jacket as he keeps his stare locked on me. “Careful now,” he murmurs, his tone low and full of venom. “For a boy whose girlfriend lives under my roof, you’re being awfully bold.”
“You fucking touch her and I’ll slit your throat while you sleep.”
Channing laughs. “Oh, please. So dramatic. Do you really think I’d be so stupid to lay a finger on Brianna? No, I have much easier ways to get what I want when it comes to that girl.”
I scoff as a chill sails down my spine, hoping I’m imagining the sinister look in his eye as he refers to my girl. “You really are a self-centered piece of shit. You can’t even get your own stepdaughter’s name right. It’s Brielle, asshole. Not Brianna. If you’re going to threaten someone, the least you can do is learn their name.”
“Her name doesn’t matter. She is nothing but a careless woman, put on earth with the sole purpose of catering to a man. She belongs in the kitchen and the moment I’ve had my fill of her mother, she’ll belong in my bedroom.”
Yep. I’m going to fucking hurl.
I slam up against the bars, a loud roar tearing from the back of my chest, making him flinch. “Just fucking try and see what I do to you. Brielle is nothing like her gold-digging mother. She’d rather gut herself with a butcher’s knife than have anything to do with you.”
Channing simply laughs, his eyes sparkling as though I just set down some kind of challenge. “We’ll see about that now, won’t we?”
Fuck me. “Why don’t you go ahead and take one more step toward me? I swear, I won’t bite.”
He watches as though I’m nothing but a pile of dog shit beneath his foot. “Here’s what’s going to happen, Morgan,” he says, taking a step back and leaning against the officer’s desk beside his briefcase. “You’re on hour forty of your forty-eight-hour hold and the moment that clock ticks over and you’re released, you’re going to go home and continue living your life as the star of Bradford’s football team. You’re going to wine and dine Brianna until I deem otherwise, and you’re going to forget about the name Colby Jacobs. This is your only warning, Morgan. Step out of line even once, and I will ruin you, but what’s more, I won’t even need to try. You see, I already have everything I need to make it happen. I’ve watched you grow up, watched you destroy your skin with those ridiculous tattoos, and I watched as you made mistake after mistake.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? If you think I’m just going to sit down and let you get away with this bullshit, you’ve got another thing coming.”
Channing laughs before unclipping his briefcase and holding out a bunch of photos. I take them and my heart immediately starts to race, my past staring me right in the face. My body goes cold as I let the pictures fall from my fingers, horror pulsing through my veins. Nobody should know about this, they can’t … my whole fucking world will cease to exist.